


Monster

by highqualitynot



Series: highqualitynot's Parkner Week 2019 [6]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Tenderness, Vampire AU, Vampire Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-12 04:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20156479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highqualitynot/pseuds/highqualitynot
Summary: In all the time Harley had known Peter, he had never seen him looking so close to dead.Peter was, in fact, totally dead.---parkner week day 6 - swimming,hurt/comfort, five feet apart, 'cuz they're not gay





	Monster

**Author's Note:**

> its here... at last. 
> 
> this is probably the fic im most proud of out of all of the parkner week fics i've written so far, and that's because it's a part of my vampire au. if u follow me on tumblr you know how obsessed with this au i am and how excited i am to finally let y'all see some of the stuff i've been working on!
> 
> thanks especially to my lovely beta, [harp,](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroacewritingplace) who is just a total sweetheart. 
> 
> [here's](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ftf5aR07Ha3KcCtfjUe14) the spotify playlist for my parkner week fics! 
> 
> to see more parkner vampire au, check out this tag on my tumblr! [#vampire au](https://high-quality-not.tumblr.com/tagged/vampire%20au)

“Is something wrong with Peter?” Harley asked, incredibly concerned. 

MJ and Ned gave each other a look that Harley couldn't quite decipher before they both scooched their red plastic food hall chairs a hint closer. 

“He’s just upset about some stuff,” Ned said. 

“Great, because that's really helpful,” Harley muttered. “How am I supposed to talk to him without knowing what's going on?” 

MJ raised a single skeptical eyebrow. “It's very personal to him. This is really all we can tell you without it being an invasion of his privacy.”

“Okay. Sorry,” Harley said. “I’m just worried about him. I’ve never seen him look so worn down before.”

“He used to be like this a lot more,” Ned said. “Before Tony came into his life, he was in pretty bad shape.”

Harley’s eyebrows knit together in worry. “Maybe I should ask Tony for help.”

“I seriously doubt Tony’ll tell you any more than we could,” MJ mused. “It's Peter’s choice: if he tells you, he gets to decide when.” 

“Speak of the devil,” Ned said. 

Peter held one of his infernal smoothies, skin almost white with how pale it looked. Conversely, his eyes were sunken into his skull, their usual ruddy brown dull and lifeless. He crashed into his chair and hunched over, mindlessly draining his smoothie.

“You look like death,” Harley said, and he meant it. He put a hand on Peter’s, shocked by how frigid it was.

“Feel like death,” Peter mumbled. He pulled at the loose collar of his button up, eyes almost fluttering shut. 

“We could both get away with skipping,” Harley suggested. “Let’s get outta here.”

“Mkay.”

Before lunch was even properly over, Harley was delicately loading Peter into Happy’s car. Peter slumped against the tinted window, tired eyes barely able to keep open.

“You can sleep, if you want,” Harley told him. “You probably should, actually.”

“No…” Peter mumbled. “I don’ need it. I can stay awake.”

“Peter,” Harley curled his fingers around the other boy’s wrist. “Please. For me? I’m so worried about you.”

Peter’s eyes widened. For a moment, Harley wondered if he would blush. 

Then Peter gently shut his eyes and tucked his face into Harley’s collarbone. 

Harley took a deep breath, trying to calm the swift beating of his heart. Peter needed sleep, care, and attention, not Harley falling in love with him. 

He stayed asleep until they reached Stark Tower.

“Darling, hey, you gotta wake up.” Harley gently pulled Peter away from his neck. He set his hands on Peter’s shoulders. “Just for a bit, that's all, sweetheart. Just to go inside.”

“A’ight,” Peter said dumbly. He ignored Harley’s movements and tucked his face back into Harley’s collarbone, nuzzling contentedly at his pulse point. 

Harley got out of the car, Peter still clinging to him. He thanked Happy and brought Peter up to the 72nd floor, the one with their rooms on it. 

“Okay, I’m gonna get you a glass of water and some more blankets,” Harley told Peter. “Stay out here on the couch for a minute and then you can come in your room.”

Peter gave him desperate puppy dog eyes that took all of Harley’s frankly astonishing willpower to ignore. Peter would stop pouting and smile again after he _rested_. 

Harley threw a few more blankets and pillows onto Peter’s bed. Satisfied with the coziness of the bedroom, he went to grab Peter, but the object of his affections was no longer on the couch. 

“Peter?” He called. “Peter, where did you go?” 

Panic filled him. What if Peter was off working again or went all the way back to school? Where was he? 

“Harls?” Peter’s voice answered, muffled by a door.

Harley wandered a few feet down the hallway of bedrooms. “Darling, where did you go?”

Harley swung the door of his own bedroom open to see Peter curled up in _his_ bed, snuggled tightly into the pillows. 

“Peter, why are you here?” He asked, butterflies filling his stomach. 

“Smells good,” Peter said, muffled by the pillow in his face. “Warm. Like you.”

Harley felt his ears burning and scratched the back of his neck. “O-Okay…”

Peter laughed something breathlessly into the pillow. He was clearly delirious and probably about to fall asleep.

“Peter, are you still wearing jeans?” 

Peter whined a little, squirming out of the blankets and sitting up on the edge of the bed. “Yeah…”

Harley pulled one of his graphic tees off the floor, a necromancy pun shirt with ‘Reduce, Reuse, Reanimate’ scrawled across it. He then pulled a pair of Spider-Man pajama pants that Tony had bought for him as a joke gift from a nearby drawer. 

“Here. Put on some pajamas.”

Peter nodded and pulled up the hem of his sweater. Harley quickly turned away, unable to subject himself to the torture of seeing Peter Parker shirtless. 

“Okay, ‘m good,” Peter said. 

He looked absolutely gorgeous in Harley’s clothes. Still pale and exhausted, but totally dwarfed by the oversized pajama pants. The shirt almost fit him, but was a little long. He looked effortlessly beautiful. 

“Do you need anything else?” Harley asked, trembling.

“You,” Peter murmured, almost reverently. He laid back on his elbows, shooting Harley another set of puppy dog eyes. 

Harley couldn't resist them a second time. He changed into pajamas and crawled in bed next to his crush. 

Peter smiled toothily and curled up beside him under the blankets. He nuzzled into Harley’s neck, clearly his favourite place to be. 

Harley smiled warmly and let himself place a hand in Peter’s hair. It was fluffy and soft, much like the blankets covering them. 

Peter was absolutely freezing. Harley pulled another blanket on top of them and tangled his legs with Peter’s, determined to warm him up. Peter sighed happily. His hand curled around Harley's waist.

Harley's eyes closed lazily and he felt himself drift off to sleep, warm and comfortable with Peter curled up around him.

\---

Peter slept the day away.

It had been a long time since he obeyed his biology and slept during the day. Having to go to class and be Spider-Man meant that he didn't really sleep. 

Of course, he only needed about an hour or two a day, but the stress of patrolling, classes, and trying to maintain his relationships was driving him insane. 

It had been about two or three weeks since Peter had slept a wink.

He was delirious, woozy from lack of blood, exhausted and desperate. 

Too desperate, it seemed. When Peter woke up, he was nearly biting Harley, face pressed into his neck. 

He jerked back with fear, unable to get far. Harley’s hand was completely tangled in his hair. Peter’s eyes scoured his collarbone, ensuring that he hadn't actually bitten Harley in his sleep. 

He took a shaky breath, even though he didn't have to. His ‘smoothie’ was abandoned in the food hall, and Peter was absolutely starving. 

That was the scariest thing. He was ravenously hungry and woke up nearly biting Harley. It was unforgivable, utterly awful. 

What if he had bitten Harley?

Harley would be in pain, would scream at Peter for hurting him. He would feel betrayed and he would never speak to Peter again. Harley would hate him, because he was a monster.

Eyes filling with tears, Peter forced Harley’s hand out of his hair and stumbled towards the elevator. The kitchen on the 72nd floor had no blood in it, so he went up to one of the main Avengers floors to find it. 

All that was in the fridge was a blood bag or two, but Peter was so desperate that he’d even drink the plain O Negative.

He threw a bag of O Neg in the microwave and watched it spin for 45 seconds, then removed it and ferociously drained it. 

Peter’s eyes rolled back in his head, finally satisfied. He wiped a small drip of blood from the corner of his mouth and sighed contentedly. Peter threw the used blood bag into the garbage and headed back to Floor 72. 

“Peter, there you are!” Harley was pacing behind the couch, but slid to a stop when Peter stepped close. “When I woke up alone, I was worried.”

Peter looked away. Harley was wonderful: kind, caring, achingly beautiful. He had to be strong enough to look away from those blue eyes. Peter had to put _distance_ between the two of them, for Harley’s sake.

“Just went to steal snacks from Tony’s fridge,” he said. “If I leave now, I could still make my next class.”

“What? No!” Harley looked both confused and upset. “You still look tired. Sweetheart, come back to bed.”

“I’m fine,” Peter gritted his teeth. Nothing was more tempting than the idea of curling up again with Harley. “I need to go to class.”

“No, you don't,” Harley breathed. “You can stay. You _should_ stay. I don't know what's wrong, I just know that I can help you by making sure you don't hurt yourself.”

_But what if I hurt you?_ Peter was terrified at the thought. Harley’s safety was at risk. He couldn't just give in at the sight of those pleading blue eyes. 

Harley‘s hand rested lightly on his shoulder and Peter _panicked_. His voice came out shaky and scared, not aggressive like he’d intended. “You don't need to do that for me. You don't need to care.”

“I care,” Harley murmured. “I care about you, Peter. I’m here for you.”

Peter’s usually motionless heart jumped in his throat. His hands gripped uselessly at the hem of the shirt he wore, which still smelled pleasantly like Harley.

“I’m… I don't wanna…”

Hurt you, he thought. “Be a burden,” he said. 

“You could never be a burden,” Harley told him. “Never. Not on me. I care about you, darling. I don't know how else to prove it to you.”

Peter felt tears building in the back of his eyes. He threw himself into Harley’s arms and sobbed. 

“I don't want to! I pro-omise I’ll never...” Peter forced out. “I swear, I s-swear. Please belie-eve me... Harley, Harls, I swear it.”

Harley must have been caught off guard, but he only paused for half a second before whispering little words of encouragement to Peter. “It's okay, I’m here. I know. I know. It's okay. I believe you.”

As though Harley had nailed him into his coffin, Peter pulled back at his final three words. When he spoke, his voice was utterly wrecked. “You believe me?”

“I’ll confess, darling, I don't much know what it is you're promising me,” Harley said. “But I know you mean it.”

Peter blinked up at him in amazement, absolutely awed by how truly good he was. How very lucky was he to have met Harley?

Peter would do anything to protect him. 

He closed his eyes tiredly. “Can we go back to bed?”

Peter felt Harley nodding above him. “Yeah, that's a great plan, sweetheart.”

They staggered into Harley’s room, crashing back onto the bed. Peter nuzzled back into Harley, wrapping an arm securely around his waist. 

“Harls… ‘m gonna keep you safe,” he mumbled. 

Harley brushed a strand of hair away from Peter's forehead. “Keep me safe? Sweetheart, I’m not in any danger.”

Peter made a small noise of disagreement and shut his eyes tightly, determined to never let go of Harley.

Harley’s breathing was deep and even, easy for Peter to relax into. He forced some breaths into his own lungs, just so Harley wouldn't realize he was dead. 

A small voice that sounded a little bit like Tony in the back of his mind insisted that he wasn't dead at all, that he was more alive than ever. 

Peter deftly ignored it, but let his muscles relax. He melted into Harley.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Harley whispered. 

Peter blinked back tears and held him with everything he had.

Maybe he was a monster. But not to Harley.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr!! [@high-quality-not](https://high-quality-not.tumblr.com/)
> 
> stan [harp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroacewritingplace). thats it thats all stan harp!
> 
> once again, [here's](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ftf5aR07Ha3KcCtfjUe14) the corresponding playlist.
> 
> here's the tag that's specific to my [vampire au!](https://high-quality-not.tumblr.com/tagged/vampire%20au)
> 
> i hope you enjoyed!!


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